Thank you everyone for the reviews and alerts :)
This chapter is more of a fill-in to everything cos when I was reviewing the story I found many holes and everything :S
enjoy :D (it's heaps longer than usual and hopefully I can keep up this length) :D oh, and feel free to criticize my writing skills and whatnot – I'm desperately trying to improve it atm and any help would be great :D and to "()" - dw, ill be speeding up things soon - i want some romance happening here as well :P
CHAPTER 9
A month passed by in relative silence.
Hermione's attempts at figuring out what Tom and Abraxas were hiding were lessening as no one had died or appeared in the Hospital Wing with a sudden mysterious injury.
The weather too had begun to cool down which was quickly followed by the Giant Squid disappearing into the depths of his lake more often than not and Tom had neither insulted nor bugged her for a while now.
It was peaceful; too peaceful.
Walking into breakfast that morning wasn't quite the same as always.
Hermione meandered through the panicking students who were running around the hall to find their friends warily. Something had obviously happened.
The teachers were nervously glancing at each other at the front table and Dumbledore was nowhere in sight.
With her stomach beginning to form a knot she cautiously made her way over to Tom who sat unaffected, biting into his toast calmly.
'What's happened?' She asked, plopping down into the seat next to him.
Tom gave her a superior look before tossing her the morning newspaper.
Hermione, who had grabbed her drink in the process, spit it all out, drenching Tom in pumpkin juice when she read the heading.
Grindelwald Advancing to the North
'WHAT?'
Turning around she found a fuming Tom glaring at her.
Grinning sheepishly she brushed off his pointed looks to clean it up and focused on the article.
'Why do you think he's coming up here?' She whispered, her heart beat still not under control.
'Why I thought a smart girl like you would have already figured it out.' Whacking his head with the newspaper she turned back to her breakfast with a huff.
For some reason she had really wanted to know his thoughts on it.
Strange.
'Enter.' Well, at least he didn't leave the school.
Stepping into Dumbledore's office she was suddenly overwhelmed with grief as she spotted the all too familiar odd contraptions littered all around the room.
When she had arrived here she had decided against telling Dumbledore about her time-travelling experience, instead sending Headmaster Dippet a letter signed by a "Mr. Granger" asking him if he would accept his daughter into their school.
Dippet had of course been confused and so had asked Dumbledore to investigate.
She had replied to Dumbledore's letters by saying that she was born in France but kept moving to other countries every few years.
He had requested a meeting with her and her parents but she had denied him on the grounds of finding it extremely difficult at the time to spare a few moments as they were still settling into their newly rented rooms.
Now however, she knew better.
'Miss Granger, how can I help you?'
She hesitantly sat in the offered chair and bit her lips nervously.
'I'm not too sure where to start sir.' She confessed, looking up to Dumbledore for help.
Smiling kindly down at her he whispered, 'I usually find the beginning a good place to start.'
Nodding absently she hardened her resolve and took a breath.
'Well sir, do you remember how my father sent you that letter explaining our situation?'
He nodded cheerily, plopping a lemon drop into his mouth after offering her one too.
'That was a lie sir.'
His eyes twinkled at her words, his mouth twitching up in amusement.
'And the truth?'
Bemused by his reaction she continued.
'I was born in the year 1979 and sent back in time on a mission that you instructed on me.'
Dumbledore froze in shock and she waited for the information to sink in.
'Go on,' he whispered after a minute.
'I obviously can't tell you what happens in the future sir, but I don't think it matters anymore! History has already begun to change and I've only been here for a few months!
I-'
'Please calm down Miss Granger.' He laid a hand on hers which was clutching his table frantically and waited until her breathing had slowed down.
'Miss Granger, have you ever heard of Raven Wield?'
Her stomach sank as she nodded in reply.
'I happen to be a close friend of his and have a hand-written copy of every one of his works.
'In one of them in particular he discusses the fabric of time and when manipulated, the consequences.'
Dumbledore paused for a second to see if she was still following him and upon receiving a curt nod, continued.
'His theory follows that if one were to transport him or herself back in time, time would do all in its power to hinder them from their mission.
'So far, until now,' he added, eyes twinkling, 'man has only ever been able to rip back the fabric of time for a few hours at most. This is not nearly far enough to give time a chance to thwart him but in your case I do believe his theory stands.
'Now understand that no lives will be lost that would not have already been lost in your time. Nor will anything of significant consequence occur that would not have already occurred. Time is merely rearranging the events in your history to better help it with its quest.'
He frowned as she paled in response.
'Is something troubling you Miss Granger?'
Looking up to Dumbledore she finally whispered, 'Why does time need to speed up Grindelwald's assault on England to help get rid of me?'
Dumbledore's eyes widened, but only infinitesimally so that she would not notice his panic.
'I'm not sure why Miss Granger but if I know myself as well as I think I do, I do believe I would have only sent you back for the utmost important reason. So I really can't see how you can avoid our era's most important and influential people.'
She stared at him for a second before weakly replying, 'Cheers.'
Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively before offering her yet another lemon drop.
'I am here for you whenever you need me Miss Granger and so are your friends. You're not alone. Never forget that.'
She grimaced, hardening her jaw for the coming war.
'If I may ask Miss Granger, how are you planning on returning home?'
He didn't want to ask but he had to. According to Raven time would see her dead, if not thwarted.
She smiled knowingly and answered him confidently. 'I'll most likely die here sir. If I do thwart time and live to tell the tale, I will disappear in my seventh year and return back home.'
The twinkle had faded from his eyes by then and he whispered solemnly, 'well I will make sure you live to see that day Hermione.'
Her eyes had grown glassy but she hastily blinked them away.
'Thank you professor.'
As she left his office he couldn't help but wonder.
She had seemed so much more than her age would suggest, as if she had faced death and other such threats already in her lifetime.
It was because of this reason that he had told her the truth. She may have acted her age in class but now he could see beneath that layer of child-like laughter and happiness and he would not forget it either.
'And where have you been all day Granger?' She whipped around to find Tom leaning across the wall, arms folded and eyebrow raised in suspicion.
'Did you miss me Tom?' Giggling, she skipped over to where he stood in the common room and beamed with apparent delight.
'Of course not.'
He had replied just a bit too quickly and she smirked at him, letting him know that.
'Don't be ridiculous Granger,' he replied with a sniff. 'I was merely curious as I saw you running off to Dumbledore's office after breakfast.'
'I had a problem,' she replied testily, suddenly on edge.
'Then why didn't you visit Slughorn, your head of house, if you had a problem?' He smirked, supposing himself victorious when she replied in a superior tone, 'I would but I can't really see Slughorn giving me advice as to which books might be useful references for Transfiguration now can I?'
She smirked in brazen joy before skipping off, not before patting his head consolingly.
As she sat in her bed that night she roughly went over the last few months in her mind.
She had been acting...too girly.
Not one of the other girls in either Slytherin or another house acted like she did. They did giggle of course, but not as much and as frequently as she did.
Sighing she mentally whacked her mind for only now picking up on it.
She had to be more serious. This wasn't the 80's anymore and women were taught to behave much more than they did in later years.
She'd have to remember that.
Good she thought. It was annoying let alone tiring acting like that day in and day out. It was only ever at night, curled up in bed, where she would let go of her mask and be the seventh year she was.